Vas Rannoch
by Elycat
Summary: They have a homeworld again, but not everyone takes its name. Oneshot.


During the mass migration from the Migrant Fleet to the planet's surface, there was some confusion due to the fact that nearly every quarian was now calling themselves "vas Rannoch." The clannish system of naming that had become a cornerstone of their culture over the past few centuries was suddenly falling apart - but no one seemed to mind. They were proud to call themselves vas Rannoch, and if it was creating some inconveniences, that was a small price to pay (although those involved in administrative tasks _were _inclined to complain).

Shala'Raan understood the change. She'd been one of the first to publicly call herself vas Rannoch, and she knew there were things it stirred in her soul. It could not be too different for the rest of them. As time passed and more settlements were built, the younger generations began taking regional names instead, a sort of return to the old ways. Even some of the geth adopted the practice, at least those who had taken on individual names or been given them by their quarian companions. But Rannoch remained a deeply respected name - a mark, in later years, of those who had been present during the Reclamation. There was a sense in those days that you had to have earned the name of Rannoch, and that was a custom that endured.

There were a few who did not change their names, for various reasons of their own. Zaal'Koris never gave up the name of Qwib-Qwib, and what had once been something of a joke among those who knew him now had a bitter taste to it after the loss of the Qwib-Qwib and her entire crew. As more and more settlements began springing up, most of them took their names from ships that had been lost during the wars with the geth and the reapers. Koris was surprised, but touched, when a group of settlers approached him for his permission to name their settlement after his former ship. The name really had become something to be proud of.

Daro'Xen kept the name of Moreh as well, but for different reasons. The admiral's research vessel remained in orbit, and Xen made it her permanent home for the remainder of her life. Koris sometimes voiced his opinion (though never to her face) that it was a matter of stubborn pride and disgust, that Xen could not bear to accept the geth as equals and retreated to orbit rather than consent to live alongside them. Raan thought he could be right, though privately she wondered if there was something else to it - the power in being able to see the entirety of the planet from her cabin window, maybe. Xen had as much pride in Rannoch as the rest of them, but perhaps she felt most secure if she could survey it at a distance: a complete perspective rather than something more intimate. She always had been an odd one.

Raan often wondered if Han'Gerrel would have done the same. He'd wanted this so badly, and yet when the time came, he had insisted on staying with the Heavy Fleet to command it in the war with the Reapers. He never returned. Gerrel was memorialized as Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema, and that was a decision that Raan second guessed for the rest of her life. He'd loved that ship, but he'd have been willing to see her burn for Rannoch. The political situation with the geth on Rannoch was far easier without him, but Raan missed his friendship in spite of that. Whatever else he'd done, she firmly believed that Gerrel was a good man, and tried to ensure that he would be remembered that way.

Tali'Zorah returned after the war, and built her house on the homeworld, and had a strange familiarity with the geth that nobody else quite understood. She had known Legion, and they loved her. The youngest-ever quarian admiral would sometimes vanish for days at a time to explore unvisited regions of the planet. Rannoch was an anomaly among the homeworlds of the most prominent species; nothing on Earth or Palaven or Thessia was a mystery to its inhabitants anymore, but even years after the Reclamation, there were miles upon miles of forgotten territory on Rannoch. The geth could tell them what was out there, in a clinical sort of way, but that was no substitute for going out there and seeing for themselves. Tali was not the only one who seemed to be making up for lost time, immersing herself in the riches of a planet once lost to her.

She loved Rannoch, but she never changed her name, and no one questioned that. To bear the name of the homeworld was a great honor, but what Tali had was something more precious than that. A name that had once been given to Tali in an attempt to intimidate her was now something she wore proudly, something children whispered excitedly about when they caught a glimpse of her, something that both the quarians and geth would remember and honor for generations to come.

Rannoch was proud of her. Shala'Raan was proud of her.

Tali'Zorah loved Rannoch, but there would always be a part of her that still flew with the Normandy.


End file.
